How much do mods add to your insurance? I know im not going to get an exact price. Im talking about a Greddy TT. How much did your insurance go up? Not alot? Doubled? Anything at all helps.

 

Why would they need to know?

 

some people aren't comfortable adding 10-30k worth of parts to their car only to find out in the event that car gets totalled that

A: they'll only pay for the value of your stock Z and the money invested in mods is gone

B: they won't insure you at all because you have "performance or race parts" - some companies really make a big deal out of that vs stereo, wheels etc


remember that some dude can do a hit and run, and then you have nothing but your insurance to turn to

 

There is no answer to your question. Call up your insurance company and first ask if they cover any parts that are installed on your car. If they say no, then ask if you can get that kind of coverage added on. The rates for that will normally be based off the amount of money you have invested in the car so the more you want insured the more you pay. Most companies cover aftermarket parts up to a certain dollar limit and then you have to purchase additional coverage to cover the rest. Don't be affraid to call your insurance company if they aren't helpful when you call then consider another company.

 

For maximum safety....

Don't call YOUR insurance company. Call another and ask about their policies on such things. Like your shopping.

Some insurance companies have actually "Assessed higher risk" just based on a phone call with you over questions on your policy. It's not BS. My wife works for one such company...a big one.

 

You don't have to tell them the modifications will be performance oriented and any company that would do that should simply not be used.

 

y don't you have a friend call your insurance company and ask the questions as if he/she were shopping..

 

i've talked to 5 companies between yesterday and today who did have a distiction between performance parts and other misc aftermarket parts (wheels, stereo, body kit etc)

Many have told me that in the even of me totalling my car and they find all the aftermarket performance gear on my car, they will not cover at least those parts or possibly the car depending on how far you take it (like removing airbags or installing a racing harness etc)

 

A few years ago, I had a stereo system stolen out of another car. It was valued at about $2200. All that I had to do was give my insurance company some kind of proof that I had what I did. They asked for receipts or copies of owner's manuals. They paid for the entire system, minus my $250 deductible. I have USAA.

 

A stereo system is not a performance part. The insurance company would believe that by installing performance parts (like a turbo), you are more likely to speed and thus more likely to get into an accident.

 

When I asked state farm about it... I told them I was planning on spending a whole lot of money on my car... they just told me to keep recipts...

I didn't get any premium hikes etc.

 

Yep that is the way most companies are. They are willing to cover anything you have installed on your car as long as you can prove it and it doesn't go above some value. $5000 seems to stick in my head as a common limit.

 

That's not true at all. If that was true, then they would believe that someone who has an upgraded stereo would be distracted by it and not hear car horns or sirens and also be more likely to get into a accident. That's just ridiculous.

I have State Farm and my agent knows all about my mods. I pay the same premium as when my car was stock. If I got into an accident or had anything stolen, my insurance would pay for all of it. (if it was my fault) I do have to keep all my reciepts though.

 

I agree with not telling your insurance co about this. In the event of totaling your car, just buy back the salvage and you'll get all your mods back. You can then dump the salvage.

 

I guess insurance is a hot topic in this forum for some reason but whatever. I'll say this again there is no one rule that applies when it comes to insurance. there is no one company that will offer everyone the best rate and its more than likely that throughout any one persons lifetime, the best rate that he/she may be able to obtain will change as will the company that can offer them the best rate. this rule also applies to each individual State as each State has their own set of laws and statues that apply to how auto insurance is handled in that State. so when it comes to the subject of whether your insurance company will cover any aftermarket parts that you put on your car it will also vary from company to company. now as Mr_Q stated in an earlier post even mentioning that you have "performance" modifications to your vehicle to your insurance company can be cause enough for them to raise your rates or even nonrenew you. is this illegal? not if that insurance company doesn't have the underwriting ability to rate for modified vehicles or if there are statistics which show a correlation between modified vehicles and higher rates of and/or costs of accidents. GEICO as I understand it does will not cover vehicles with performance modifications (and they will typically ask a person getting a quote if they have any mods...if that person says yes, then they will not quote you and you will be black flagged as someone with mods on their veh). now this was GEICO in Hawaii so it may differ from State to State, but if any of you who think GEICO is the best and would never do that want to test it, feel free to call them and tell them you have performance mods to your car and we can find out if its a general rule or a Hawaii specific rule. does this mean that you can't get your mods covered? no...there are many companies who offer coverage for mods, but if you want to be sure that its covered I would request a special endorsement to your auto policy to specifically cover those items. and yes you will pay more for that. never assume that your mods will be covered because "some guy on my350z.com said state farm would cover it". your insurance company is not obligated to cover anything other than what is stated in your policy. I'm sure that some of you will be covered for your mods w/o having to pay more or disclose them ahead of time. but you are in for a rude awakening if you think any insurance company is going to pay you out $60,000 because you paid $30,000 for your car and then dumped $30,000 more in modifications to it. I don't care if its a performance modification or not.

 

That's fine and dandy for a wreck...assuming there's not a fire..and it's not a really bad wreak...but what happens when your car gets stolen. Can you go to the guy's house and "buy" your car back.

 

I called my agent at one point and said I have over $15,000 in aftermarket parts on the car and asked him how I would go about insuring them. He advised me that as long as they were attached to the car, not just sitting in it, that if I had records of what was done, I had to do nothing more. I began telling him what was done - performance vs bodykit, etc, and he said, he didn't need to know. This was state farm.

 

^thanks that helps alot.

 

The conversation you just had, is why your agent has E&O insurance for his agency. If he has more conversations like that with his clients the carrier will be suing him after they pay your claim. You are not going to get coverage(much) for free. A $2,000 stereo is a far cry from $15,000 in mods. Ask your agent to send you something in writing that he knows you have $15,000 in mods and that they are covered under your current policy. I bet he will change his story.

 

iI'll chime in here and chalk another vote to State Farm. I was up front before I bought the Vortech and let them know what I was doing. They said as long as I don't race and it bolted on the car (thus becoming part of the car), they would insure it as long as I kept all receipts. I figured it would do no good to hide it from them and try to get money from them later on. I was up front and all is good (no rate hike).